Jaken's Odds and Ends
by Hairann
Summary: An unconnected collections of stories that star Jaken that are not related to Jaken's Ballad.  There is no set update for this.
1. Cause and Affect

Title: Cause and Affect

Author: Hairann

Prompt: Heartbroken Challenge

Rating: T

Genre: Poetry, Comedy

Word count: 434

Summary: Title is intended, not a typo. This was done for the Valentine's Day challenge on Unsung Heros.

* * *

"It wasn't fair," I grumbled out loud

in fact I am certain she fouled.

To each of them she had given a gift

but me she decided to stiff.

Why was I the one left out?

"Really now, what was that about?"

What had I done to deserve such pain?

Why did I lose while the others gain?

...

To the priestess she had given a handmade doll

into which she had put her all.

Handcrafted it was with love and care

that even I couldn't help but stare.

Hair made from yarn and eyes black thread

her bright red smile filled me with dread.

Did she not know the pain her exclusion could cause

when she walked passed me without a pause?

...

To each head of the beast a salt lick she gave

knowing it was what they both did crave.

One foot by one foot the gift was in size

and now the dragon I began to despise.

A lift they offered and her pillow they were

but I had done much more for her.

Her disregard had made me heartbroken

when all it would have taken was a small token.

...

To the runt she gave a piece of art

an image of their faces surrounded by a heart.

Rosy cheeks and bright eyes aglow

with an "I Heart You" written below.

Done in watercolors, she painted so well

causing my old heart to swell.

"If only a picture she would draw for me,

then I would not feel so miserably."

...

Then came our lord and she smiled so bright

powerful enough to give his heart flight.

"For you my lord, who already has it all,

the perfect gift is hard to call.

And so I thought and thought some more

about what you haven't already had before.

So for you, I have a ticket for one day

where you can do nothing, but play."

...

That was it, the end of her list

and unable to bare it I balled my hand into a fist.

Passed over I was; it was true

never before had I been so blue.

Being there I could stand no more

and through the woods I tore.

But I did not get far away

before she was calling for me to stay.

...

"Silly master Jaken

you have not been forgotten.

All day and night I toiled away

that you'll like it, I did pray.

So to you I give the best gift of all

a life size Lord Sesshoumaru doll.

And now there's but one thing left to say

Happy Valentine's Day!"


	2. A Promise Kept

Title: A Promise Kept  
Author: Hairann  
Rating/Genre(s): Comedy, Drama  
Word Count: 1185  
Warning(s): Mentions past character death  
Summary: The last one standing, isn't always the winner.

Won first place for the WacDonald's prompt!

* * *

The noise around him effortlessly drowned out his exhausted sigh as he stared in shock and disbelief at the carnage around him. Not for the first time, he found himself wondering why he had chosen to do such a thing; why he had taken it upon himself to bring this strange group back together. But he had done so, he had found every last one of them. They were all here, but good did it do? They no longer knew him, knew what they had once meant to each other.

Most of them shouldn't even have mattered to him, remained forgotten by history as they were destined to be, and they would have if not for that stupid promise he had been tricked into making. Well, he wasn't really tricked, but he may as well have been since he had not know what he was signing himself up for. This, he decided as he took in the sight before him once more, was certainly not part of the deal.

And of course he couldn't really blame her or her promise, even if she was around to be blamed, as it was his fault for not searching for them later, but how could he have known that it would result in this? That was just it, he couldn't have known; neither could she. As he began to wonder if she would have told him had she known, a loud screech drew his attention away from his inner questions toward the one who had made the sound just in time to be hit with some flying object straight in the face.

Grumbling under his breath about what it would take for a death to be ruled justifiable, he wiped his old, withered hand across his forehead and glanced down at it to find it covered in what looked like blue paint. Squishing the glob of paint in his hand as he made a tight fist, he inhaled one deep breath after another as he tried to calm himself. It was just a little paint, easy to wash off and hardly even had a scent; it always could have been worse considering his present company.

As he gave said company another glance over, he decided that it could have easily have been much, much worse. Opting to let the matter drop, he turned his attention to finding something to wipe his face off with and quickly set about doing so once he had found a suitable towel; tuning out the loud noise around him for the few moments he was busy. It wasn't much, but it was enough to lessen the pounding headache that their constant screaming had caused.

Soon enough he was cleaned off, as much as he could be without actually taking a bath, and he turned his attention back to the room's other occupants to find they really hadn't changed much since the last time he had seen them. In fact, with the exception of their age, most of them had not changed at all. Well even that wasn't exactly true, other than himself, there were no demons present. Even the one-time half demon now stood before him as a full human; and he wasn't the only one.

Besides him, those that had demon blood in the past now stood before him completely mortal; he had out lived them all once and would no doubt do so again. And because of the promise he had made with the strange priestess he had known so many years ago he was stuck in the very spot he was in now. Standing before a group he should have never seen again; lived to know again. Five hundred years was far too long to be alone, waiting for their return.

But she hadn't thought about that, what he would have to go through and suffer, when she had made him swear to keep a promise just moments before she died. She hadn't even given his life, if you could call the last 500 years a life, a second thought before tying him to them in this life and the next with a simple vow. He had promised to protect them and keep her family together after she was gone, only they hadn't known at the time that she was the only one left.

And the only way he could keep his promise was to live long enough for them to be reborn and bring them back together. That meant five hundreds of waiting for all of them; as they tended to be reborn only a couple at a time. And finally his long wait was over as they were all standing, and some of them sitting, before him. Only his problems didn't seem to end there, in fact he was certain they had just gotten worse.

Not a single one of them-neither the two priestesses, the once half-demon or full demons, not even the lord he used to serve under or the little girl that would follow after them singing and picking flowers-was over the age of five. He had found them all and brought them back together, but they were all children. Jaken had kept his promise, but she never told him it would include babysitting a bunch of snot nose rug-rats.

Sighing softly to himself, Jaken turned his attention toward the sound of a door opening behind him, only to be run over by a stampede of children a moment later when they heard the call of "Who wants WacDonalds?" Shaking his head at how quickly his assistant was relieved of his bags and the food was being consumed, Jaken turned toward the much, much younger man who grinned as he made his way toward him.

"You should have seen the people outside of WacDonald's as I was leaving. They were all looking at me like I was crazy for having bought so much," he joked as he crossed the room and sat down on the couch just a few feet away from the elderly demon. "You sure you want to open this daycare center for these guys? They'll eat you out of house and home," he warned as he gestured to the obvious children on the other side of the room.

"Sure? Not even close, but I have a promise to keep and I am hopeful that when they are older, I will be able to see those that I have missed for so long within them. And do not think you can get out of helping me, grandson. I am far too old to be chasing after small children, however, at 85, you are the perfect age.

"I do not know if opening a daycare just for the reincarnations of those I knew 500 years ago is a good idea, but I do know that I have missed them terribly and it will at least give me the chance to be around them. I was the last one standing after the battle that claimed all their lives, but I have never once felt like the winner. Perhaps now I will."


	3. Beloved Daughter

Impromptu Prompt - Beloved Daughter [Father's day]

Title: Beloved Daughter

Author: Hairann

Genre: Drama, Angst

Pairing/Character: Jaken/Rin (not romantic!)

Rating: All

Warnings: Might make you cry, I know I did.

Word Count: 1612 

AN: I wrote this story back in 2010 for a challenge on IY_Insomnia ( ) and have just realized that I never posted it onto this collection as I meant to.

* * *

Jaken stood there watching as his lord brought the young human child back to life, the magic of his father's fang majestic as it cut through the pallbearers of the Underworld. A moment later and she drew in the breath of life, her wounds healing before his eyes and he found himself in awe of Sesshoumaru's power. There was no other who could match him in any way, certainly not the half-demon son of his sire.

Four simple words and his life was changed forever, much to his dismay. A single, emotionless sentence by his lord and their duo had transformed into a trio, and no one seemed to care about what he had wanted. No one had asked if he wanted the weak little girl to travel along side him, never mind the fact he knew he would have to be the one taking care of her. There was no way Sesshoumaru would bow himself to the needs of one human and she was too young, too useless to simply do for herself.

***

Jaken could feel a strange, unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach as he watched through the portal, standing beside his lord's mother. The human girl had proved herself as weak as he had always believed her to be by dying for the second time, only this time, as he watched with baited breath, Sesshoumaru was unable to resurrect her. No matter how hard he tried, she remained unmoving and Jaken found it hard to breath. As annoying as she may be, he had never wished her dead.

But all hope was not lost it would seem as his lord's mother bestowed upon her a necklace that would bring her back to life for as long as she continued to wear it. Though no one would ever know, he had seen relief shining in Sesshoumaru's golden eyes the moment she returned to them, the same as she had been before. The human was safe once again and they could continue on their journey to destroy that abomination, Naraku.

***

Jaken was a dead toad, that much was obvious to him, for he had broken his promise to Sesshoumaru. He had promised to protect her while their lord fought against the half-breed and yet, he had allowed her to be dragged off by one of his incarnations. His unconsciousness was not an excuse, no matter how hard he had been hit over the head. He was only left with two real choices, either catch up in time to save her or die with her, for he knew Sesshoumaru would not bring him back to life if he allowed hers to be extinguished.

Some how, some way he had made it just in time to take a hit that would have easily killed a human, though for him it merely broke his back for a few days. Days that were spent being fawned over by a child who had no idea how to take care of someone who was injured, a child who no matter what she did, only seemed to make the pain worse. But as much as her looking after him annoyed him to no end, even with all of the pain she caused him in attempts to help, it was tolerable for she was still alive and so was he.

***

Today was the day Jaken had been dreading for many years, today they would lose her to another man. She would grow old with him, raise children, live a life of safety away from them. She would soon forget them, human memories were never very good, and Jaken hated to image life without her constant chatter. No longer would she sing songs along their journey about when their lord would return, cook dinner beside him, talk about a day he already knew about, as he had been there with her.

As he watched the ceremony before him, standing in Sesshoumaru's shadow, he couldn't help but think it wasn't fair. Humans are given so few years as it is and now they are being robbed of them, she was theirs, she should stay with them. Not marry and settle down with some pathetic human that could never, in a million years, be good enough for her. He should have been a prince or a lord, maybe then he would have been worthy of her, but human love is strange sometimes.

***

Today Jaken was left behind, but for the first time, he did not mind it so much. This time, he was left to help her out with her infant and he soon found that the nightly talks around the fire, they used to share when she was younger, picked right back up. As much as he missed traveling with his lord, it was nice to be able to see her more than once a year as it had been for a long time, too long. She had grown into a beautiful woman and became a mother, all in his absence. He had missed so much, but it would change now.

Now she was a widow with a new born son who needed help and Jaken was more than happy to step up and be the one to aid her. And when his lord returned for him, like he knew he would, she would leave with him. He was sure of it, both her and her son. There was no way Sesshoumaru would leave her here by herself when it was time for Jaken to leave. Soon enough they would be back on the road traveling together, wearing crowns of wildflowers, splashing each other as they tried to catch their dinner in whatever part of the river they camped by.

***

Jaken knew he had never given her intelligence enough credit, she was far smarter than he had ever realized. And it had been her that realized the truth first, before he was even able to understand that something was wrong. Sesshoumaru was not returning, the years since his departure was proof of that, or he supposed he should say, he was not returning for her. Jaken knew he would one day come back for him, but it could easily be long after her family line had died out. There was just no way to know.

But Jaken didn't let it get to him, because he knew he would return one day and until then, he planned to enjoyed the time she had remaining in this world. In a silent agreement with each other, they stopped watching the road for his return, stopped bringing up how long he had been gone or when they thought he would return. Along with her teenage son, they played the parts of a family, as strange as it may have been. And for the first time, Jaken finally understood where he fit in, in her life.

***

She was running out of time and he knew it, she knew it. Her son, her daughter-in-law, even her granddaughter knew it. And apparently so did Sesshoumaru as he arrived on the eve of her death, just in time to witness one last smile before she passed on into the next life. One moment she was there, the next she was gone. The light in her eyes, the joy that had always shone there since the day they met, went out and he would give anything just to see it again, one more time.

Humans were robbed, given far too short of time in this world, but demons even more so were cursed. Those that learned to love them anyways. Once they were gone they no longer had to worry about being sad, but demons had the rest of their very long lives to miss them. It wasn't fair, it wasn't right, but at the same time, if all he could have had with her was that short amount of time, he would still choose it over never knowing her, never loving her.

***

Never before and never since had Jaken ever met someone who touched his heart in such a way, an organ he didn't even know he had. She had been the joy in his life, the light that illuminated his path. Her laughter had been music to his ears and she taught him things he wasn't even aware he needed to learn. Though through neither blood nor marriage, she was his family. One of only two people he had ever loved.

Their journey ended the night she died, no longer could they travel together knowing she would never be with them again. It just wasn't the same and being around each other seemed to make them realize just how much they missed her. Instead Jaken was sent on errands that kept him traveling for many years until one day he happened upon an old, worn down marker beneath a large, blooming Sakura tree.

Smiling softly to himself, he had leaned down to trace her name with his aged fingers, undisturbed by the tear that escaped unheeded down his cheek. Without even looking he knew who had arrived behind him, for no one else would dare come to this spot and risk his wrath. Bowing to him respectfully, Jaken gave the marker one last glance before turning on his way without a word, as they had done for years.

The last words that had been spoken between them was when they needed to decide what to put on her grave marker, as simply putting her name was unbefitting of her. They had agreed that there was only one thing good enough to name her as, to remember her as...'Beloved Daughter'.


	4. This demon I follow

Challenge: Poetry Challenge 01 - Haiku set

Title: This demon I follow

Author: Hairann

Genre: Poetry

Universe: Canon

Pairing/Character: Jaken

Rating: All

Warnings: Just a reminder, this is not a boy's love story, so don't take what it says that way :P  
AN: Follows along with my story Jaken's Ballad.

Note 2: Another one written back in 2010. Have no idea how I missed adding these, but I also found one other that was never added to this site so I will be adding it on here as well.

* * *

I travel this land

following behind him, the

greatest male alive.

None that came before,

none that shall follow after,

can ever compare.

Eyes a golden hue,

hair the silvery moon light,

claws as sharp as swords,

Elven ears upon

a regal and handsome face.

Beauty unforeseen.

Immeasurable

wisdom beyond his years. Strength

out shining all else.

The lord I follow,

give my life for if needed

sans a second thought,

This demon I love

my lord, master...my savior,

whom I don't deserve,

Allows me with him,

following behind always,

allows me to serve.

Until the day I

die, there will be no other

I shall bow before.

For each moment I

am allowed to be beside

him, I weep for joy.

Should this be the last

breath I take in this lifetime

I shall die happy.

For my lord is here

leading our way straight across

his inheritance.


	5. The Haunting of the Manor

Title: The Haunting of the Manor  
Author: Hairann  
Theme: Unsung's Halloween Challenge  
Genre: Dark/Horrorish/Poetry  
AU/CU: Not sure lol  
Rating: T  
Warnings: Violence  
Word Count: 647  
POV: Jaken  
Prompts used: Haunt, Fang, Danger, Oblique and Frenzy.  
Summary: Jaken recounts the haunting of his Lady Kagome while his Lord Sesshoumaru was away.

Note: Last update to this collection for a while.

* * *

This tale I seek to relay to you,  
You shall find it hard to believe it's true.  
None that came before and doubtfully after,  
Responded with any laughter.  
If you can but listen here,  
I shall tell of a haunting so near.  
My lord it sought to undo,  
The bounds that chained him anew.  
Mated to the girl he was,  
The reason an unknown because.  
But even as the years strengthened her hold,  
There was another one ever so bold.  
On the eve of his heir's birth,  
The halls rang with her chilling mirth.  
Decided she had to undo what was done,  
Wishing she could become the one.  
Just as the clock struck midnight, the 31st,  
She stalked the halls with her new found thirst.

A dangerous enemy, she roamed the halls,  
Ignoring their pleas to return and frantic calls.  
She had but her mission in mind,  
To take what she wanted and to her bind.  
It mattered not what my lord might wish,  
For her heart was as cold as a slimy fish.  
Into his room she crept so silent,  
Her claws raised, soon she would be violent.  
Slashed the sheets into strips so unkind,  
But the one she sought, she did not find.  
Removed from her bed, just moments before,  
My lady had been shuffled out the door.  
Back into the hall she doth crept,  
Hoping to find where my lady was kept.  
The guards came hoping to find her there,  
But she was already gone and the room was bare.  
Across the hall and down the stairs she went,  
Soon discovering my lady's scent.

Hidden within a secret room,  
My lady prayed it would not be her tomb.  
Far from there in a distant land,  
My lord fought as freedom doth demand.  
Unaware of his mate's plight,  
He returned not from that ill timed fight.  
And in her frenzy she attacked,  
Into a corner my lady she backed.  
Only one would live, they both knew,  
And my lady, I prayed it be you.  
But fight her off, did my queen,  
Twas the bravest thing I had ever seen.  
And from that room she ran away,  
Only to return later that day.  
When next she came, she had no fear,  
Sure she would make the other disappear.  
At my lady's throat she aimed her knife,  
Determined to kill her lord's wife.

Outside the manor a great storm arose,  
Bathing in shadows their tattered clothes.  
Fight they did with tooth and nail,  
Knowing only one could prevail.  
Lightning struck and thunder boomed,  
An eerie song to mark one as doomed.  
An hour passed and then another,  
As the two warred with each other.  
The battle they fought, my lady did win,  
As blood and sweat poured from her skin.  
The fang she grabbed and plunged within,  
The heart of the woman filled with sin.  
As her heart slowed and her blood pumped free,  
She whispered hoarsely to my lady.  
"Never now nor in the future you'll be,  
Free from this haunting misery.  
Death you brought onto my soul,  
And soon shall my revenge take its toll."

Roaming the halls her spirit did dwell,  
Haunting my lady with her oblique hell.  
But soon my lord doth return,  
And what transpired he did learn.  
"Burn her body!" he called to all,  
As he rushed through the hall.  
Knowing it to be the only way,  
For his mate to be free that day.  
Searched they did high and low,  
But it was lost, this body of their foe.  
Unable to find what he sought,  
My lord returned to his lady distraught.  
"I'm sorry my mate, she can not be found,  
But it is to this manor she is bound.  
Leave here we shall and you'll be free,  
Of her haunting memory."  
And so this manor they doth flee,  
Leaving her spirit free to roam for eternity.


End file.
